Be a fit in the team #6 – Self development

Gladly, for most of us this period is quite long. Even if you don’t like summer, winter is coming (pun intended).

Self development

Case presentation:

Before going on with the discussion we should set the target audience. This is aimed at you, the one who is at least content with their job. The company may not be the best, neither the colleagues, but you are doing what you like.

We could start to surface the problem already. The team and the project are alive and have a direction. Unless there is an business unknown to me, the direction would point towards profit.

The profit means doing something better, faster, more efficient or for more people.

In order to fit in that team you should start helping out. It is expected of you to at least accommodate the change. By coming with ideas you fit above the line. By actually implementing the ideas and having a drive for improvement you do over-perform.

There is a branch of people who do not invest in self development but are not bad enough to be let go either. The pitfall with them is that they are good enough until a big change comes into play. From there on, the resource will be a junior again and will learn at the speed at which the information is presented. The same mistakes as before the previous change will be made.

Actions

As a team member:

Find out the direction of the company/project

Find out what you would like to do in the upcoming future

Make a mix of of the two and drive the progress

Team lead:

As you could figure it out already, not everyone wants to invest in self-development and people can’t be forced to do things.

Discuss with the team member and understand the following aspects

Hobbies

Direction

Availability

Set up a plan for which the member seems willing to commit

Start splitting the work into tasks and set up deadlines together

If there is no progress:

Understand again why the progress did not start

Split into smaller tasks by accommodating the reason

The good:

You will be more competitive on the market

You will be more useful in your team

The bad:

I am sorry but I can’t recall the last time when learning something new hurt.

Conclusion:

A raise is not a right. It is expected of each employee to work during the agreed amount of time for the agreed upon tasks. By doing just that you don’t deserve anything, you seem to do better because you know the project in more detail. What’s even worse, you are keeping a job occupied that could be of someone who invests in self development. It is called self development because it involves you.

Unless agreed on in advance, the company is not supposed to find time for you to improve. The team lead can try to go a step further and help you out, but it is not his job to teach you what to do after work in order to improve your life.

Have a nice day further on and sorry for the abrupt end but this is the truth. Your life costs you heartbeats, your position costs money. Bring this money in your pockets by bringing more value in those core hours.